Car-propulsion



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. W. L. IMLAY' & H. G. WILLIAMS.

GAR PROPULSION.

No. 370,872. Patented Oct. 4,1887.

.wm. oooog uzbbb 2Sheets-Sheet W. L. IMLAY 81; H. G. WILLIAMS.

(No Model.)

UAR. PROPULSION.

Patented Oct. 4. 1887.

INVENTEJFIE ig WITNEEEEE UNITED STATES PATENT Orr-ICE.

WILLIAM L. IMLAY AND HENRY GEORGE WILLIAMs, OF oAMDEN, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNORS OF oNEEonRTH: TO HENRY oLAY rERRY, OF

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

CARI-PROPULSION.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 370,872, dated October 4, 1887.

' Application tiled September 24, 1886. Serial No. 214,455. (No model.)

- den, in the county of Camden-and State of New Jersey, and HENR GEoRG W LL AMs, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, residing at the said city ofOamden, have jointly in-' vented certain new and useful Improvements in Systems of Oar-Propulsion; and we do herebydeclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,

which form which-- Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section, partly in elevation. Fig. 2 is a plan, partly broken away. Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section. Figs. 4 and5 are detail sections of the valves enlarged from the preceding figures. Our invention has for its object to provide a new and improved system of propelling railway-cars.

part of this specification, in

Our invention consists in the novel application, by the means hereinafter specified, of hydraulic power as a medium for propelling cars.

In carrying our invention into effect we provide a railway having tracks on which the carwheels run, and an additional rail, which is composed of short sections or lengths, each of which is movable or adjustable vertically, so as to form an inclined plane. On each of the cars designed to run on the track there is mounted a sliding bar having an anti-friction roller which bears on the sectional rail, the pressure for this bar being derived from springs or weights, so that the principle of movement of the car is that of the gravity of a body descending an inclined plane. To produce a series of successive inclined-planes in the sectional rail andto wind up the pressure-springs or elevate the weight, we combine with the sections of said rail a number of hydraulic rams, which are fed with water under pressure from a common feed-pipe or main, the supply and discharge being intermittent and regulated by controlling-valves brought into action by the cars as they travel on the raising the pressure-weight on the car.

track, as hereinafter explained. The hydraulic rams are arranged relatively to the adjustable rail,and the other parts of the system are so constructed that when a car reaches the end of an inclined plane it tilts a lever con nected with the valve controlling the appurtenant ram, so that water is admitted under pressure to the latter, raisin gits piston, thereby elevating the next forward section of the adjustable rail and compressing the springs or At the same time and by the same act the valve 'of the last or previously-passed ram is reversed and the water from the latter turned into an exhaustpipe or discharged, whereby the section of the rail pertaining thereto is lowered into position for action for the next following car.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, I represents a portion of the p1atform or body of a car supported on wheels which run upon rails 15 t. Between the Wheels of the car is a rigid bracket, D, which carries an anti-friction roller, d. Said bracket D extends below the car-wheels and is intended to enter a slot in a conduit, in the manner of a grip-bar in. a cable-traction system. Said bracket forms a guide for a sliding bar, a, having at its lower end an anti-friction roller, 12, its upper end being attached to a cross-head, a, against which bear springs c c, said springs tending to move the bar a downwardly.

H is a rail located in a conduit, h, which is preferably underground or below the surface or plane on which the car-wheels run. Said rail is composed of a series of sections, it h, each section being pivotally connected at its ends to the pistons of hydraulic rams N and M, so that they may be successively lifted and lowered, producing inclined planes. The roller 11 presses on the rail H, and will tend to descend an inclined plane in the latter, owing to the pressure of the springs c 0, thus producing a traveling or forward motion of the car I on the tracks 26 t.

1? represents a water main or pipe for supplying water or liquid under pressure to work the rams, and O is an exhaust pipe or main which forms a common outlet for said rams.

(In lieu of an exhaust common to all the rams, they may have separate exhausts, as a common exhaust is only desirable when there is a scarcity of supply-water or it is desired for any reason to reuse the fluid. In other cases the water may be let go to waste when once used.)

A and A are valves which regulate the adnnsslon of water to the rams N and M and its discharge therefrom, and each of said valves has connected to it a trip-lever, 6, all of said levers being in the path of the anti-friction roller cl, so that as said levers are passed by the roller (2 the latter opens the valve of one rain and reverses the valve of the preceding or Just-passed ram. The rail ends attached to the ram-piston to which water is admitted are thus lifted, producing an inclined plane in advance of the roller b, and the ends of the rail-sections attached to the piston of the ram from which the water is cut off are lowered 1nto position for subsequent lifting when another car comes along. \Vhen water is cut off from a ram and its discharge-port opened,the weight of the attached rail-sections causes them to descend and assists the discharge of water from the ram. The reversal of the valve for the discharge of water from a ram is effected by the provision of a rod, f, which is moved by the trip-lever e and another lever, when the roller d moves said trip-lever, as already described. \Vhen a ram-piston ascends, it moves up the bar a, which is then over it or has its roller 6 resting on one of the ascending rail-sections. This compresses or further coils the springs c 0, so as to maintain the necessary tension for pressure purposes.

The detail construction of the rams and their valves may be varied at will to suit the purposes of our invention, and we do not claim as our invention the special construction of sald rams and valves. \Ve shall now, however, describe so much of said construction as is shown and is or may be necessary for a clear understanding of the operation of the same.

The valve A (shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3) is shown to. a larger scale and in detail in Figs. at and 5. Referring to Fig. 5, the top orifice, 1, is the inlet and the bottom one, 2, the outlet or eduction pipe. The pipe 3, Fig. 3, forms a communication to the piston of the rams M or N in Fig. 1. The eduction-valve is an annular gun-metal piston, 4., working vertically and having two valve-beats one on the inner edge, 5, and one on the outer edge, 6, of its bottom face. As the annular valve descends, the outside beat closes .the communication to the eduction-pipe, and the inlet-valve 7,rising against the innerbeat, closes the supply. This inlet-valve is an ordinary single-beat mushroom-valve, with its stalk or stem projecting upwardly and attached at the top to a piston, 8. The bottom face of this piston is constantly under the pressure of the drivingcolumn, while the top face is exposed alternately to the pressure of the driving-column and to the pressure in the eduction-pipe by means of a small gun-metal slide-valve, 9, Fig. 4, actuated by the rod f and lever c, Fig. 1. The action of the valves in combination will be readily seen by supposing that the exhaust-valve is closed and the pressure-valve open, as in Fig.

5. Then the'pressure-valve 7 in closing rises up against the annular exhaust-valve 4t and lifts it, opening the exhaust-orifice 2. The valve is now in a position to permit the water to escape from under the ram to the eductionpipe 0, Fig. 1, and allow the rail H to descend. Upon the passage of the roller d, Fig. 1, over the next lever e, the slide-valve 9,Fig. 4, is pushed over into such position that the top of the valve-piston is exposed to the pressure-column, and the top of the piston in the valve previously passed over is exposed to the eduction-column. The valves are thereby reversed. The piston in the right-hand valve being under equal pressure, top and bottom, the pressure on the top of the annular valve i forces it downward, carrying the p ressnre-valve 7 with it. \Vhen the valve 4 has come down on its beat 6, closing the exhaust-orifice, the valve 7 continues to descend under the pressure above it, and opens the pipe 3 to the pressurc-water,thus raising the ram and rail section. At the same time, through the medium of the rod f, Fig. 1, the rear valve is reversed and its piston sinks, thus putting the trackin position for the passage of a following car. With this successive and alternate action of the valves they cannot in working be placed in a position which would allow any water to slip through uselessly-that is to say,it is impossible for the exhaust-valve and the pressurevalve ever to be both open at the same time. The opening of the exhaust-valve depends on the closing of the pressure-valve, and the pressure-valve cannot open until the exhaustvalve has closed, so that it is impossible for either valve to be open except while the other valve is closed.

The feed and exhaust mains are connected with a pumping-station or pumpingstations, (not shown in the drawings,) or with ahead of water sufficient to produce the desired effect, so that the necessary hydraulic pressure in the feed-main is constantly exerted, and, if advisable, the exhaust drawn off and reused.

In the case of curves'in the road orin ascending gradients, it will be only necessary to shorten the lengths of the inclined planes, and by that means to increase their angles with the horizon to obtain the desired increase of tractive force necessary to overcome the gradient or curve.

It is evident that the trip-levers can be so arranged as to enable a single line to propel cars in either direction, as, when any one ram is up, two reversely-inclined planes are formed, one on each side of the ram or hydraulic cy1- inder. In the accompanying drawings the car is supposed to run from left to right; but by a reverse arrangement of the trip-levers c the gunning could be made in the opposite direcion.

If desired, the mains O and P may be placed in the conduit containing the rail H and the rams; or they may be outside of said conduit and buried, having connections with the rams either directly or by suitable branches. The rams may be placed horizontally,or in any desired position, as itis not compulsory that they should be vertical.

The starting and stopping of the car is controlled by brakes on such car in the ordinary manner, and thus only one lever is required to be manipulated by the driver or operative managing the running of the car.

While we have suggested that each car should have the means specified for operatingin connection with the sectional rail, it is obvious that this is necessary only when the cars are run singly, and that in cases where cars are run in trains,or where one car is hauledby the other,only the latter or motor-car need connect with the rail H.

What we claim as our invention is as follows:

1. The method of propelling cars which consists in successively and separately elevating in vertical planes the sections of an adjustable supplementary rail,and thereby producing inclined planes or ridges, upon which a portion of the weight of the car will bear at an angle to its line of travel, substantially as described.

2. The combination,with a sectional rail, H, of rams M N, &c., and a pressure-feed main, 1?,whereby by the successive action of said rams said rail is made to form inclined planes, substantially as shown and described.

3. The combination,with acar,I,of abracket 3 5 orhanger, D, a pressure-bar, a, and devlces, as springs, for exerting downward pressure on said bar, substantially as shown and described.

4. In a railway propulsion system, the combination,with a car, I, having a pressure-bar, 4.0 a, and means, as springs, for producing pressure thereon, of a sectional adjustable rail, H, hydraulic rams M N, &c., with controllingvalves and trip-levers e, and a pressure-supply main,whereby inclined planes are produced in 5 said rail and the pressure maintained in the said bar for propulsion purposes, substantially as shown and described.

5. In combination with the sectional adjustable rail H and rams M N, &c., the pressure- 50 main P and exhaust-main 0, common to all of the rams, whereby the water used in the rams is saved for reuse, substantially as set forth.

' 6. In a railway propulsion system, the combination,with a sectional adjustable rail, H, a pressure-main, P, and rams M N,&c.,of valves A A, 8250.,Wlbh intermediate mechanism, sub stantially as set forth andshown, for opening and reversing said valves, substantially as shown and described. I

In testimony that we claim the foregoing we have hereunto set our hands this 18th day of September, 1886.

WILLIAM L. IMLAY. HENRY GEORGE WILLIAMS.

Witn esses:

EDWARD E. PAXSON, M. D. OONNOLLY. 

